Binkenstein

Grumpy
Spreadsheets
Puns
He/Him

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@ClintVSmith I've been comparing poll results within each month, to see what sort of skew each pollster has. 1News-Verian has a +1.86% bias for National, but also is +2.25% for major parties and -2.03% for minor. Left/Right is -0.2/+0.42 respectively

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@liinxy Hey, a few of us who run the WoW Class Discord servers have had a company called Wildfire (https://t.co/E7LgWSFrep) approach us about sponsorship/giveaways to promote Midnight's housing feature next month. Is this legit?

[Musical Chairs @MusicalChairs14]

Quick vid for the all the 'gubmint saved too many lives, then spent too much, sent inflation to the moon, forced interest rates up, and caused all the mess we're in now' crowd. You know who you are.

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@ClintVSmith

[Kelvin Morgan 🇳🇿 @kelvin_morganNZ]

📍In this second and final excerpt from Voices for Freedom’s appearance before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19, Commissioner Grant Illingworth KC presses the group’s founders—Claire Deeks and Alia Bland, alongside their legal counsel Katie Ashby-Koppens — for clear answers on the legitimacy of early government responses to the pandemic.

What followed was a revealing exchange that underscored VFF’s ongoing reluctance to engage directly with factual questions about COVID’s initial global impact and the rationale for New Zealand’s precautionary measures.

Commissioner Illingworth demonstrates commendable patience in his attempts to anchor the discussion in specific, early-pandemic realities. His repeated clarifications — especially around whether it was legitimate for the government to take precautionary steps — are met with a frustrating blend of tangents and multiple deflections. At no point do VFF clearly or unreservedly acknowledge the legitimacy of the government’s initial response without qualifying it with an array of unrelated grievances or hypotheticals.

What stands out most is the group’s inability or unwillingness to distinguish between criticism of long-term pandemic policy and acceptance of short-term emergency decision-making.

The Commissioner’s questions are tightly focused on the very early stage of the crisis, yet VFF constantly shifts the conversation to later developments, lockdown duration, or legislative overreach. It seems to be a deliberate tactic to avoid conceding any ground — even where doing so would not undermine their broader critique of government overreach.

Final thoughts: Despite repeated opportunities to answer straightforward questions, VFF consistently chose ambiguity over clarity. It has to be said that their reluctance to engage in open, good-faith dialogue ultimately casts doubt on the sincerity of their contribution to the inquiry.

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@ClintVSmith Also, if the solution to welfare is "everyone get a job", what happens when inflation goes up due to zero unemployment?

Also also, why are they pushing those who can't work into work too?

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@TaxpayersUnion I think you need to go back to Meme School.

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@NikeFeen13 If you've not just randomly messaged me on Discord then someone is impersonating you with the username _niike_

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@winstonpeters If you're going to get really specific can you define what "adult", "human", "biological", "male" and "female" are please

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@ClintVSmith @CLRenney @labourcartel Can't have a problem if there's no data to say there's a problem!

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@ClintVSmith I did some quick comparisons and 150/wk reduction would be somewhere up around a 2% interest rate decrease.

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@MagdalenaDK @Nazuvious Yeah, post more over there! I've mostly migrated across myself.

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@ClintVSmith The only way I'd feel okay with nuclear generation here is with the thorium molten salt reactors - the design has an inbuilt no power failsafe built in

[Assassin's Creed @assassinscreed]

@elonmusk @Grummz @Ubisoft Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you?

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@ClintVSmith That tweet got deleted quickly

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@NZFreeSpeech Are you in favour of vaccination, against it, or just okay with people spreading misinformation?

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@NZFreeSpeech Hate speech legislation (adding additional protected groups), whether venue availability or booking cancellation is "preventing speech", the string of alt right speaking tours you promote, etc.

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@torbooks @seananmcguire @nytimes *orders*

Oh hey, there's a Toby book too *preorders*

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@NZNationalParty Can't trust National on virtually everything.